Hawaii sees just 5 new COVID-19 cases as talks about how to lift stay-at-home order begin

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii reported just five new COVID-19 cases Monday in what Honolulu’s mayor called “very good news” — and proof stay-at-home restrictions are working.

The new cases bring the statewide total to 504.

It’s one of the lowest single-day counts in weeks and comes amid early discussions about how — and when — the state and counties could begin lifting stay-at-home restrictions.

Those orders have shuttered scores of Hawaii businesses, brought tourism to a virtual standstill, closed school campuses and prompted tens of thousands of Hawaii residents to work from home.

Over the Easter weekend, the city even instituted a nighttime curfew.

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said in a news conference Monday there are no plans to re-institute the curfew, calling it a trial that “served its purpose.”

“We’re not going to do this in the future,” Caldwell said.

Ballard said 150 citations were issued during curfew hours to those violating the stay-at-home order, and seven arrests were made. She added that there were limited reports of people flagrantly violating the order.

To those people, she had a simple message: “Shame on you. This is not something that should be taken lightly.”

While Hawaii’s daily case count appears to be trending downward, officials aren’t yet certain that stay-at-home restrictions will be lifted April 30 as scheduled.

Caldwell indicated that the order could be lifted slowly rather than all at once.

And Gov. David Ige said something similar in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Monday. He said discussions are underway for a “phased-in” approach to lifting the state’s shutdown.

“We will begin to think about which businesses we can allow to reopen because their activity does not promote social gathering and the possibility of infecting others,” he said. “We’ve started the conservation amongst the mayors to determine what would be the conditions that reopen the state.”

Of the five new cases Monday, two were on Oahu, two were on Maui and one was on the Big Island.

Here’s a look at the county-by-county breakdown of reported COVID-19 cases:

Oahu: 352
Maui County: 84
Big Island: 40
Kauai: 21
Unknown: 3
Diagnosed out of state: 2
State total: 504

To get a more detailed breakdown of each county, click here.

Nearly 19,000 people have been tested for coronavirus in Hawaii.

And of those who have tested positive, at least 315 have recovered and been released from isolation. Some 44 patients, meanwhile, are hospitalized.

No new fatalities were reported Monday. The death toll from the virus in Hawaii stands at nine.

This story will be updated.

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